Grammar › Requests & Wishes
てほしい — “I want you to…”
Expresses a wish for someone else to do something, from the speaker's point of view
Te-form + ほしい expresses that the speaker wants another person to do something — “I want you/them to do X.” Unlike たい (the speaker's own desire to act), てほしい is always about wanting someone else to act. The person is often marked with に.
How to form it
| Pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| Te-form + ほしい | 手伝ってほしい — I want you to help |
| Person(に) + te-form + ほしい | 彼に来てほしい — I want him to come |
| Negative | 行ってほしくない — I don't want you to go |
Example sentences
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| もっと野菜を食べてほしいです。 | もっとやさいをたべてほしいです。 mottoyasaiwotabetehoshiidesu。 | I want you to eat more vegetables. |
| 彼にはこの仕事を続けてほしい。 | かれにはこのしごとをつづけてほしい。 karenihakonoshigotowotsuzuketehoshii。 | I want him to keep doing this job. |
| あなたには幸せになってほしい。 | あなたにはしあわせになってほしい。 anatanihashiawaseninattehoshii。 | I want you to be happy. |
🔊 Tap any Japanese sentence to hear it; kanji link to their study pages.
Watch out
たい is about what the speaker wants to do themselves (食べたい — I want to eat); てほしい is about wanting someone else to act. Mixing the two up is a very common slip.